8 JUNE 1872, Page 24

Lucretius on Me Nature of Things. Translated into English verse

by Charles Frederick Johnson. (New York : Lent and Co. London: Sampson Low and Co.)—It is unfortunate for this translator that his work was not completed before the appearance of Mr. Munro's edition ; in that case, it might have supplied a want. As it is, those who desire to read Lucretius in English have Mr. Manro's excellent prose translation ; and the present version, though arranged in lines of ten syllables, and not wanting in accuracy, seems to us decidedly less poetical and dignified ; we cannot think it calculated to give a satisfactory idea of Lucretius's peculiar power to one who does not know the original.